Although my work at the co-op primarily concerns nutritional supplements, restorative elixirs, holistic skin care and the like, my first recommendation to people who are seeking a general improvement in their health nearly always is to send them around to the splendorous displays of fresh, organic produce... the dairy cooler filled with milk and butter from the region’s pasture-raised cows... our freshly baked whole-grain breads... the organic, free-range poultry and many other wonderful foods that are now in season from our local farmers. In my thought, an investment in wholesome food for home-cooked meals is a foundation to good health that no bottle of vitamins or healthy snack bar could ever match.
Fresh, whole foods contain the most uncompromised nutrients, and eating a variety of foods helps to ensure a balance of these nutrients in the diet. Consuming local, organically-grown food in season whenever possible seems to me to be of great and indisputable benefit. I am so glad to trade a few hours of my time each week for in exchange for a cornucopia of fresh wares at the market. It is nice to meet and talk with people shopping at the co-op, and it makes my heart glad to arrive home after work, a bit tired, but with my market basket containing new ingredients for our evening’s supper.
This is what I received for my labors this morning.
Today’s market basket also contains a small loaf of bread for tomorrow morning’s french toast, new maple syrup and thimbleberry jam to serve with it, sorrel fresh from the fields, and juicy strawberries for a strawberry shortcake. I also brought home a handful of foraged morels which are now drying upon a string in the kitchen, filling the house with their dusky perfume.
Though I check our woods for edible mushrooms after each rainstorm, I have found none yet. And yet I still look. But until the day when I find our first morel here, I am so glad to have our co-op where I can trade my time for some of the most fresh and beautiful produce I have seen from the farmers and smallholders around here. What a blessing, for we have no vegetable garden of our own as yet.
And now I am going to make sorrel soup for supper!
4 comments:
Dear Kajsa,
You are tugging at my heartstrings with this post! How fortunate you are to have such wholesome bounty, so easily obtained (not discounting your effort in earning it). We have no such co-op or market within an hour's drive from our home and must make due with what goodness we can find at the grocery stores and farmer's markets.
I am grateful to you for sharing...for feeding my longing for such things....for your recent letter (did you receive my email?)...for this lovely corner of the Web.
Hello Lesley,
What a nice surprise it is to find your kind comment! I thank you very much for it.
Do you enjoy your local farmer's markets? What a fine hustle-bustle I find them to be, with their many shining wares fresh from the earth! Do you also have a Community-Supported Agriculture ( http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ ) farm near you? Our experiences with shares from a local organic CSA farm were very rewarding.
Best wishes from my realm to your beautiful Bower.
p.s. I have received no email as yet.
Ok - I have now read your entire, lovely, nature and lore-filled blog. I love it - many things near and dear to my heart.
Thanks for sharing so eloquently.
What a great compliment that is coming from such a purveyor of beauty as are you, Tara.
Thank you so much!
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